SAN DIEGO — Amidst an intense political climate, one man in Rancho Penasquitos said he felt targeted after the city sent him a notice to take down his political signate saying it violates city code.
It was back in February when Bill Niedzwiezki decided to go big by putting up six-foot-long Trump 2020 signs on his garage and also hanging a Trump 2020 flag in his front yard.
“They’re just normal political signs like everyone else has up in their yard,” he said.
But not everyone agrees with that. Last Friday, he received a notice from the City of San Diego.
“Someone had filed a complaint that I was in violation of city municipal code,” he said.
The notice said a complaint had been filed because his signs were against two city codes that required someone to get a permit to put signage.
“Someone would come out and inspect to make sure, I guess, I tagged them up properly and if not I wouldn’t be able to display my signs," said Niedzwiezki.
News 8 looked up the codes and the first one does state a permit is required unless you fall into certain exempt categories, which a private home is not part of.
The second code says you need a permit for public property and public right of way, which a front yard could fall into.
While there’s no denying – these signs are bigger than the typical ones you see in people’s yards, Niedzwiezki doesn’t see the difference.
“I could understand if a neighbor complained and I was putting up a Jumbotron the size of Times Square. I could see where that would be annoying but I think someone is getting really nitpicky here," he said.
One sign and the flag do contain a word of profanity but he says that’s not anywhere in the code.
“If they stated that in there I’d be more than happy to blur that out if that was bothering them,” Niedzwiezki said.
News 8 contacted the City of San Diego about the issue. They were checking with code compliance but were still looking into the complaint as of Monday night.